2010年5月26日 星期三

So after the grocery pricing incident, the traffic signs and bus stop facilities are also messed up in the North York neighborhood recently…This is really starting to piss me off; I think I’ll have to convince my parents to move out of that area soon. What multi-million neighbourhood? Thanks to the City, it sucks now!!

Let us start with the bus stop facilities. Last weekend I went back Toronto and found that both the bus shelter and garbage bin have been removed at the bus stop in front of our house…so Grace spilled the beans: the city first came to remove the metal categorized (recycle, paper and litter) garbage bin and shelter; a few days later, the city tied a single cylindrical garbage bin to the bus stop pole; a few more days later, the city came back and patched out a grass area beside the side walk and put the garbage bin there instead; then a few days later, the city came back and removed the garbage bin…..Wow….Seriously, is this where my tax money is going to? A side story is that there has been some metal scraps that other people put beside the original garbage bin, and when the city came to remove the garbage bin, they didn’t remove the metal scraps with it, but leaving it on our property. Grace e-mailed the city about this, and guess what, THE METAL SCRAPS ARE STILL THERE TODAY!!

Now let us talk about the new traffic lights and signs that have been popping up everywhere lately. About couple months ago, the city was setting up a new street light on Cummer Ave at St. John’s hospital in between Willowdale and Maxome – Com’on, we now have 3 street lights which are about only 500m apart from each other on a single lane street? Is it really necessary? I never knew that street lights could easily be purchased at a dollar store? If that is not the case, then our city simply just had too much money to spend on unnecessary street lights and not to mention about the installation costs. After that, the city decided to put up a sign to restrict traffic directions, i.e. can’t go straight or left turn during 4pm-7pm at Maxome and Steels…So what is the point of having the street light there anyway then?! This is like the northern boarder of Toronto, it’s not Downtown Toronto, traffic on Maxome is really not that bad. Just over the Victoria weekend, I found out that the city was being creative and spending tax payers’ money putting a few more new signs at Maxome and Bishop…. There is like minimum traffic on Maxome, they just like to make things so complicated and now I can’t even take the shortest route to go HOME which is in the neighborhood?!!!!! WHAT THE?!! Not only they are wasting money on poor planning, they are also creating problems for me to find my way home!! There is more. The city decided to put up no parking signs in front of our house too… Now there is like no parking on the quiet residential street...Wow, REALLY?! Is the population in North York becoming Downtown Tokyo soon?

Don’t even get me started with the crazy traffic on Yonge from Sheppard to Steels...there is like traffic ALWAYS! I feel like I am in rush hour every time I am on Yonge in North York. It stresses me out when I want to drive home from anywhere… not only I have to deal with the frustrating traffic, now I have to remember all those nonsense traffic signs!!! And the city, please, I know you guys are trying to create job opportunities, but that does not mean wasting tax payers’ money on meaningless facilities or removing meaningful facilities and making your citizens’ lives so miserable. Lastly, please…..please spend some money to fix the goddamn potholes and remove the metal scrap from my lawn for god sake!

ALSO…Toronto is like the typical EASY city in SimCity with flat terrain and clearly divided residential, commercial and industrial areas… even the roads so straight that they only go N,W,E or S…and the city urban planning still manage to screw it up. That just tells us how incompetent the people are running the city….

________________________________________________

Grace's letter to the elected rep HallFindlay.M@parl.gc.ca since the letter to the city obviously didn't do anything...

To whom it may concern,

As a resident in the willowdale neighbourhood, I am sadden by the recent development in the area.

Whether it is due to the great "action plan" or what not, I would need an explanation as to the following:

1) Why street signs were put in place which created great inconvenience for commuters trying to get to Finch station and vice versa to go home? Which made no sense to everyone to our neighbours and ourselves.

2) Why is it that the real estate agents in the area keeping on leaving their rubbish behind after the open house and and requested to have the city coming to pick them up over a month ago, NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE?

3) Why is that the "new" rubbish bin at the 42 bus stop on Cummer and Maxome moved from right to left within two weeks when it got set up, then taken away altogether after less than 2 month. Not to mention the bus shed were taken away and now there's RUBBISH EVERYWHERE.....which obviously the city has no plan to do anything about.

4) This might have been a TTC issue, but the city ultimately owns TTC and it appears that the buses are always late. I am sure traffic in the area is a cause (thanks to your great team of urban planning for the congestion...), but another main reason is that the busES would park in the station for at least 10mins and would not move while all the riders are waiting in the cold or heat. Although it has almost becoming a routine thing that we fellow riders are getting use to and accepting as a norm and laugh about it, it is quite unacceptable that we have a 3rd world-class transit system in this DEVELOPED country.

I would sincerely appreciate the above questions answered. Thank you for your assistance in advance.

2010年5月23日 星期日

As many of you know, flipping through weekly grocery flyer is one of my many important routine and hobby. Unfortunately, after the 59 cents broccoli event about two weeks ago, there has not been any decent deals lately. Last Friday I picked up the flyer on my Brampton house door way as usual, I carefully read them one by one, finally saw something that grabbed my eye at No Frill - watermelon for $1.88 each... pretty good deal! Since I was planning to stay at Toronto over the long weekend, I decided to go to the No Frills in Centre Point North York to pick up the watermelon.... So finally on Saturday when we got there, the watermelons were 2.88 each?! i was like...hm... I was pretty sure i remembered it was 1.88... could it be my Alzheimer acting up? but i am usually very good with prices... I still picked a watermelon up, but I wasn't feeling all the great, i swear i saw 1.88....anyway, after i got home, the greatest mystery was solved by comparing the two No Frills flyers side by side.... the one in Brampton is DIFFERENT than the one in North York?!!!! WHAT!!??? is the like a discrimination or what?! ridiculous!!! Now i'll have to get grocery from Brampton and bring them back to Toronto!!lol..

By the way, thanks to Isabel, the tea selection in my house has increased by about 500%...

2010年5月21日 星期五

It’s the Victoria long weekend!Friday is sunny, Saturday is rainy, Sunday is cloudy, and Monday is sunny again… Not a bad combination.Don’t have any plans really at this point. So let’s have a quick brain-storming session…

New York: Flight ticket is crazy around $650…Shopping: Can’t think of anything to buy… (rare moment I know)Casino: Don’t have extra cash to dump away right now; I got a house and a car to pay…Movie: Shrek and Sex and the City are not coming out until next week, nothing good to watch…Food: My #1 priority right now is losing weight; this option is like digging a grave for myself…(deeply inside I long for a decent angus beef burger…) P.S I am 55.6kg now...KEEP IT UP XENIA!! Don't let the devil talk you into the burger!!!Karaoke: This one may be feasible except the fact that everyone is pretty much out of town…Study: Don’t have much to study; my course just started about 3 weeks ago…Watch TV: Not following any drama right now; don’t have the urge to start one either… (omg, something is wrong with me)Friends: Maybe meet up with Henry? Kenny? Alice? If they are even available…Liz, Susi and Sarah are all out of town.Organize Closet: Swapping summer and winter clothing…no excuses this time; have to do it this weekend…Upload Pictures: Yeah... I can probably do some of that too...missed my desktop

In conclusion, I will be sleeping, cleaning, jogging and be cranky with an empty stomach for the long weekend!

2010年5月19日 星期三

One day I was driving down a highway and I saw a rainbow, so I wonder: I know that the rainbow colors are from light reflection in water mist causing the white light to disperse into its 7 color components, but why does the rainbow always form a semicircular shape, but not any other shape?DW: Check this link video for rainbow tutorial http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=44

One day I was eating and there were various kinds of meat on the table, such as pork, beef, chicken and lamb; just by tasting, I could pretty much tell which kind of meat I was eating, so I wonder: how does human meat taste like? Does it also have a distinct taste and texture which I could tell the difference from other kinds of meat?JB: Oh, I really don't want to know, thank you Xenia, thank you...

One day I was at work and a very funny incident happened during lunch, I was laughing really hard, and I wonder: is human being the only animal that has a sense of humor and knows how to laugh? Animals have sad, happy, lonely, boring moods, but I am not sure if they could actually find things funny from the bottom of their hearts.DW: Additional features of human: humour, sarcasm, logic, and ability to be evil?

One day I saw a man with a beer belly, it was a huge round one; the belly looked pretty tight and stiff...not sagging at all, so I wonder: What exactly is in it?! if it's fat, how come it's not sagging but firm and tight? and why does it all accumulate in the belly, and not anywhere else?

One day I was at Juzhaogou China admiring mother nature’s creation; the mountain, the water, the trees together assembled an incredible view, and I wonder: Everyone in this world has a different point of view about almost everything, especially the definition of beauty and arts. Doesn’t matter how ugly the shoes are, there must be someone who would find them attractive; so the question is, is there anyone in the whole world doesn’t appreciate the magnificent natural sceneries? Even the greatest designer/artist of all time would not be able to impress everyone, so how does mother nature able to unite everyone’s interpretation of beauty?

One day I was watching a documentary on Sharks, the movie described the phenomenal impacts of rapid Shark population decrease; they include messing up the food chain leading to global warming and global oxygen reduction and a whole bunch of other disasters. It’s like butterfly effect theory which encapsulates that a small difference in the initial condition may lead to large variations for the whole system. So I wonder: if human beings are extinct today…what effects would that have? I think if it is not nothing, then only better i.e. no pollutions, no excessive depletion of natural resources. I can’t imagine why the human beings are essential in the bio food chain either…and the earth lived happily for a longtime without human beings there before… so…why are we even necessary here? We are not even as important as a tiny butterfly, yet we are killing everything we find and see. Now that is all making sense…let the most pointless character destroy everything essential…I mean, doesn’t THAT make you wonder?DW: I think human beings didn’t evolve to last forever. So anyone trying to have kids today are crazy. You’ll see your grand kid having to clean up after our trashPZ: http://www.history.com/shows/life-after-people

One day I wonder, if I was a religious person who believed that the answers were all in God (regardless logical or not), would I be a less successful person because of a less critical mind?DW: No, there are lots of ignorant and successful people. You just need to be good looking and be at the right place at the right time, and maybe know how to act… (think Tom Cruise)

One day I wonder, if I didn't wonder about things happening in this world, would I be a happier person?GK: Back to the basics!!! that will make you happy.. ;)If you don’t believe me, just transfer all the money in the a/c below and you’ll see the magic.. #123456789…BTW.. THANX FOR THE MONEY..

2010年5月18日 星期二

My co-worker Teresa (she spent all her life in Mississauga and doesn't know what a bubble tea is) has two sons, Robert and Ross, each of them has a DS with R4 card. Robert lost his DS last week and was really upset; so Teresa asked me to get a set of DS for Robert next time when I go to pacific mall. Last week I went to pacific mall and got a set of DS with TTcard (a newer version of R4) for 180 dollars with receipt and gave them to Teresa. The next day she came to work and told me that her boys were thrilled about the new games on the TT card, and they also found that some of the newer games cannot be played on the old R4 card. She asked me if I could get another TT card for Ross’ DS set, I said, “sure, but they would have to wait till the next week, because I only go back to Toronto during the weekends.”The following morning, Teresa came to me and said “well, Ross can’t wait that long, so I think I’ll go pacific mall with my husband either this afternoon or tomorrow to get the TT card”I said “sure, you got the receipt for the DS, just go find the same store, you should be okay”The same afternoon, Teresa rushed to my cubical and said, “You want to hear something really funny?”I asked, “What is it?”Teresa said, “My husband is at pacific mall right now, and he found the store, he went in the store and asked for TT card, the sales lady told him “no, we don’t sell those, they are illegal.””I was like “What? Did your husband go to the same store?”Teresa replied, “Yeah, he did! He was really confused, so he reached to his pocket and took out the receipt and said “but didn’t we just get a set of DS with TT card from you two days ago?””At this point, I was cracking up really bad…Teresa continued, “The sales lady took a look at the receipt and replied, “the TT card is 35 dollars each cash only””The people at pacific mall must thought Teresa’s husband was a cop…

2010年5月13日 星期四

It’s that day again. Another year has gone by….Officially 26…can no longer get Youth pass for the Euro Rail now…I went to work with my hair down and make up on… feeling pretty good. :)Everyone at work was wishing me happy birthday through out the day. Some sent e-mails, some left notes on my desk, Teresa even gave me a birthday card! They also gather up in the meeting room and sang happy birthday! LoL… although it was a very manly version of happy birthday (twenty-ish middle-aged men singing in a room…), but it was all good! Thank you guys!!Then I log on to my e-mail account around noon time, 143new e-mails and facebook birthday wishes. Thanks to the facebook birthday reminder…you made my day!Although I am pretty sure my parents TOTALLY forgot about my birthday (and yes I am only child, so they really have no excuses…), they often forget their own too, so I don’t blame them =PJennifer just e-mailed me that she is coming to Brampton to take me out for dinner! So touched!! So I guess I’ll have to let my stomach be happy for one day…. Will continue my diet tomorrow…lol

Thursday, Jen treated me to Wasabi buffet, then we also went glow-in-the-dark mini golf...

Friday, I attended Bruno's retirement party, and my meal was also paid for :DSaturday, Isabel treated me to get my nails done, and David paid for my grocery too...

2010年5月12日 星期三

I was watching the Korean version of F4 drama last night. The theme of the story was to illustrate that money could not buy everything, such as love and family. But it was really ironic that the reason for the drama attracting millions of people watching it, having it in the original Japanese version, then Taiwanese version, now the Korean version was because the average Joes, i.e. us the audiences, were all so curious and envious about the power of money demonstrated in the drama. Imagine if there were no international corporations, no rich families, no fancy sports cars, no multi-million mansions, no fashion show parties involved in the drama, who would watch it?

The world population is about 6.7 billion, even just 0.1% of the population that is rich; it is about 6.7 million people living in extreme luxury. How did they accumulate all the money in their limited lifetime? Even winning the lottery several times still can’t top the amount of money these rich corporations or individuals are bagging in each year. It is amazing how the human beings have built such a society that could incorporate both the rich and the poor in the same dimension as if these are all normal.

2010年5月11日 星期二

Although I used up pretty much all my vacation days already in the first half of the year, it doesn’t mean I should settle for a boring summer. As a matter of facts, I think I will be pretty busy…

Starting May 3rd to July 28th, I’ll be taking my 3rd master of engineering credit: Distribution System Engineering. It is really not my interest or my strength; luckily I got some notes from Kenneth previously, so I hope it won’t be too bad. *fingers crossed*

Starting May 31st to July 26th, I’ll be taking beginner golf lessons every Monday evening with Cori and her mom. I think it’s going to be very fun. Once I know a bit more about golfing, then I think I can really make the most out of it when I go to a real golf course with friends. I can just imagine the sunny day with no clouds in the blue blue sky and the warm wind breezing on the green green grass…. Ah, what a great day to golf! *a sip of tequila sunrise*

Starting July 11th to Aug 22nd, I’ll be taking Northern Italian Cuisine every Sunday afternoon. Grace will be taking Coffee Cake during the same time as well. So it’ll be a feast every Sunday. *yum yum*

What else? Well, there are a few summer long weekends still open to be filled. Maybe going Vegas again? New York? Montreal? Maybe going camping? Since I am more fit now than ever due to my cranky diet plan, maybe I could join canoe trip? Hm… White Water Rafting sounds very exciting too. Anyone?

Although women are never to reveal their numbers, regardless weight, age or height, all the numbers in the following confession of mine are true numbers.

I got to start with some facts about myself: I enjoyed food, all kinds of food. I enjoyed making them and eating them. I told people that I live to eat! I didn’t exercise; I hated to sweat, so why suffer myself? I thought. I am lazy, I never cared about any sun uv skin protection; not to mention about using any hand or body lotion of any sort. I made some attempts with applying facial mask at least once a week, but that didn’t last long – these processes just take up way too much time and they were slowly forgotten. I was one happy little girl who simply didn’t see the freckles and agingcoming.

I am 26 years old this year, and today I truly feel that age is catching up on me. The fine lines I see around my eyes are freaking me out; the fact that my weight has been rising upwards due to slower metabolism is freaking me out also; even the thought of I’ve passed my mid-20s is FREAKING ME OUT! So in the beginning of this year 2010, I stepped onto this newly-bought shiny digital scale, and the big numbers showed up: 60.9kg. My goodness, I had never been at 60kg ever before! How did all the weight creep up on me I didn’t know? I started doing some cardio, and then I found out that how out of shape I was. I started to change my eating habits and forced myself to exercise almost everyday, and these led to cranky mood everyday as a side effect. In the first month, there was really not much progress on the scale numbers. It was devastating. But I could only try to comfort myself that the result would eventually come. After 3 months of crankiness… I meant good work, I lost about 5 kg and my skin was also visually better (bonus!) just right before my big trip to Taiwan and China. Although 56 kg was not at my target yet, but it did work a bit and the fact that I could actually fit in a size 2 BCBG dress amazed me. (And yes I bought that dress.)

My 3-week trip to Taiwan and China was a total blast and at the same time a total disaster to my diet plan of course. However, there was no regret what-so-ever. I was brought back to life with all the good food they had to offer there. I did feel guilty and fatty at times, so I still tried to do a 40 minutes jog in the morning every other day. But comparing to the amount of food and the types of food, i.e. fried and sweets, that I was consuming each day, the jog didn’t cut it for sure. At last, I took a deep breath and stepped onto the analogue scale in my Taipei home after 3 weeks of happiness, it showed 59.5kg. I sighed, and I was not surprised. With the kind of life style I had, gaining 3.5 kg in 3 weeks was not bad already, it could’ve been worse.

After I got back to Toronto, I was just eating normal with minimum exercise. About 4 days later, I weighted myself on my digital scale, surprisingly, the digital scale showed 57.8kg. I was like WHAT?

Then I thought to myself, maybe because during the 3 months of losing weight the healthy way, even with 3 weeks of no-control-eating on my trip, my body was still able to burn parts of it off rather quickly thus the re-gaining process was slower than I expected. It was the “Ah, all the hard work really paid off!” feeling and it gave me the motivation to pick up my healthy live style again and lose more weight for the remaining year.

It has been about 2 weeks now that I am back to my diet plan, and I weight 56kg again. The goal is to keep up the good work for another 2 months, 53kgand summer here I come!